BENGALURU: Sugarcane growers, members of Kabbu Belegarara Sangha, on Tuesday took out a rally from the City Railway Station to Freedom Park demanding that 25 sugar factories in the state release their dues to the tune of Rs 230 crore. Director of Sugar Ajay Nagabhushan assured them that the government has sent notices to the factories and seized sugar, but due to slump in market prices, sale wasn’t successful. He assured the farmers of getting their dues cleared by next month.
Karnataka Rajya Kabbu Belegarara Sangha president Kurubur Shanthakumar said, “We want the government to facilitate the payment. The Commissioner for Cane Development has assured us our payments. We are 300-400 in number and have come from all districts of Karnataka.
We met Industry Minister KJ George and he assured us to convene a meeting in a week.” In a memorandum submitted to KJ George, the farmers said factories in Mandya, Karwar, Belagavi, Bagalkot, Vijayapura, Kalaburagi and Bidar owed them dues.